Thelma Zirkelbach had lived in a home filled with built-in dressers and bookcases. She bought new furniture to replace those, including some book cases with glass shelves, to help the room feel more light and airy. less

Thelma Zirkelbach had lived in a home filled with built-in dressers and bookcases. She bought new furniture to replace those, including some book cases with glass shelves, to help the room feel more light and ... more

Photo: Elizabeth Conley, Staff

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The right lighting is crucial in the home of an older senior. Ceiling fixtures provide area lighting that help prevent falls.

The right lighting is crucial in the home of an older senior. Ceiling fixtures provide area lighting that help prevent falls.

In Thelma Zirckelbach's apartment, a crystal chandelier adds a feminine touch﻿ and provides area light that makes it easy to navigate the hallway﻿.

In Thelma Zirckelbach's apartment, a crystal chandelier adds a feminine touch﻿ and provides area light that makes it easy to navigate the hallway﻿.

Photo: Elizabeth Conley, Staff

Interior designers help seniors downsize in style

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Margaret Paff passes by her favorite piece of art, a print of Modigliani's "Woman With Red Hair," and mentions that it looks so nice against her new grass-cloth wallpaper.

Wallpaper isn't the only thing that's new in her chic apartment. When the now 92-year-old was 90, she decided that it was time to move into a retirement community, and she picked Brazos Tower in Meyerland.

Rather than seeing it as her last chapter, she considers it her next chapter and a fresh start. She hired interior designer Ann Schamberger of Ann P. Brennan Interior Design, who was helping other new tenants downsize and adjust at the same time.

Paff had a mix of traditional and French country furniture, but she wanted a whole new look.

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1. Mobility: An open, spacious floor plan helps the elderly move around without impediment. For example, someone with a walker might have a hard time navigating rooms full of bulky furniture.

2. Repurposing: Consider using old furniture for different purposes. A low bedroom dresser can become a foyer table. It also allows for extra storage.

3. Furniture: Be careful which chairs you take with you. Recliners should be electric to help you get up and down. Swivel chairs aren't a good choice for those with balance issues. Barstools are tricky because if they're tall and have no back, seniors with balance issues might fall getting up or down. And they must be comfortable, because many use them several hours a day.

4. Armchairs: Seating with arms is a must. Elderly use the arms to boost themselves up and provide them with stability.

5. Table: If you live in a place with a dining hall, you'll quickly fall out of the habit of making your own meals. Instead, you'll likely use your table to play bridge and other games.

6. Lighting: Use different light bulbs for ceiling fixtures vs. table lamps. Task lighting, what you'd use for reading, calls for a coloring rendering index of 95; a color temperature of 3,000-3,500, a narrow floodlight beam spread and 650 lumens.

8. Use professionals: If your artwork is important to you, use a professional art installer.

9. Update furnishings: Your furniture can easily be decades old. Updating with even a few new pieces can have a big impact.

10. Bedding: Less is more. Some people don't have the strength or energy to make up a bed daily with heavy bedding and lots of pillows.

Lighting tips

Master electrician Larry Boykin of Image Electric offers these lighting tips for aging in place. Look for bulbs that have:

CRI: This is the color rendering index. Aim for 90 or better; 95 is ideal.

Color temperature: On the Kelvin scale, this number tells you what the color will be - the ideal here is 3,000-3,500 CRI. 2,700 provides a warm, cozy light; 4,000 will feel cold and clinical.

Beam spread: This determines whether the light's beam is narrow or wide. NFL (narrow floodlight) works for task lighting (reading, knitting etc.) and WFL (wide floodlight) works for ceiling/area light.

Lumens: Aim for 650 lumens; it's ideal for ceiling/area light.

When in doubt: Call an electrician or lighting specialist.

Her old stuff was carted off to the Salvation Army, and the two women shopped for a new, midcentury-modern look.

They found images online and visited stores to see things firsthand. They picked an electric recliner from Noel Furniture, plus pieces from West Elm, Mitchell Gold & Bob Williams, and Crate & Barrel. Even her artificial plants are new, from For All Occasions.

Schamberger was concerned about safety hazards, but she also sought to improve functionality and style.

For example, Paff wanted to keep a traditional three-light floor lamp, the kind with a tall pole and pleated shade at the top. Schamberger insisted that it wouldn't blend with the new interior and might not really serve its purpose.

Schamberger brought over an iconic midcentury floor lamp with three adjustable cone-shaped shades, and when she turned it on, Paff stopped resisting.

"I tried it and, I'll be darned, I can see," Paff exclaimed, unaware of how her vision needs had changed.

Mary Grace Greenwood, 77, and Thelma Zirckelbach, 81, both moved into the same building about a year ago and hired Schamberger to help with downsizing and design that would fit their new space and changing lifestyles.

By 2020, more than 57 million Americans will be ages 65 to 79, and another 8 million will be 80-84 years old, the U.S. Census Bureau estimates. Every age group, including centenarians, will be larger.

As senior citizens look ahead to their future living arrangements, many opt for retirement communities for the companionship, activities and care they can provide. Often, those retirement communities, whether high-rises or subdivisions of patio homes, include assisted-living and nursing-home options as their residents' age and their health needs change.

For Paff, Greenwood and Zirckelbach, that meant calling in professional design help. Schamberger helps clients decide what to keep and what to get rid of, she arranges furniture in different ways and sometimes encourages clients to try something new and different.

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She evaluates their floor plans and looks at what furniture they want to keep, sometimes helping them see pieces used in different ways - a buffet from the dining room might work as a foyer table, for example.

The biggest problem is when their furniture is simply too big for their new apartments.

It's not just for looks; there are safety reasons, too.

Seniors can bump into or trip over oversize ottomans with sharp edges. Rugs are another hazard; they can cause people to trip and fall. Chairs need arms that can be used for support when getting up. Electric recliners need a backup power source in case the apartment loses power during a storm.

And nearly every client once had a big kitchen full of pots and pans and gadgets. When they get to their new residence, they realize they can eat affordably in the dining hall - many now rarely cook.

And, of course, there's the lighting issue.

Master electrician Larry Boykin of Image Electric, said that seniors - and everyone else, for that matter - should pay close attention to their lighting.

First, area and task lighting require different bulbs. Area lighting - the kind in your ceiling or chandelier that helps light up the whole room - requires a wide floodlight beam spread and bulbs with 650 lumens. Task lighting, which you'd use for reading, knitting or other close-up tasks, needs a narrow floodlight, a color temperature of 3,000 to 3,500 and a color rendering index of 95.

Greenwood's challenge was deciding what to bring and how to arrange things. Schamberger taught her to see her furniture differently. Greenwood previously lived in a townhome, and when she fell and broke her ankle, she learned two things: She could live with a lot less space, and she needed to live where people could look after her.

She already had downsized from a home to a townhome, and she thought one more downsizing wouldn't be that hard. She evaluated her things and decided that if she had 10 of something, she could really get by with just three. She kept the more valuable things and got rid of others.

Schamberger helped her pick out new living room furniture: a blue sofa, blue and white swivel chairs and round ottomans that have a strip of animal-print detail.

While Greewood is healthy and mobile, the swivel chairs are what she prefers. However, anyone with balance issues might fall getting out of a swivel chair.

Zirckelbach got some new things, too, since her Meyerland home had a lot of built-in cabinets. She had a bookcase custom made to fit her space, especially in a second bedroom she uses as an office. She also bought new bedroom furniture, a sofa and barstools.

Zirckelbach is a speech pathologist and still sees clients, so she needed a seating area where she could work with them.

With many of her clients, Schamberger accepts the sentimentality factor: There are items people simply won't let go of.

For Paff, event with a whole new midcentury-modern interior, she couldn't let go of an embroidered sampler that had hung prominently in her previous home. Schamberger convinced her to hang it in her bathroom.

"She wanted it noted that there was the old with the new," Schamberger said.